Common terms for executioners derived from forms of capital punishment—though they often also performed other physical punishments—include hangman (hanging) and headsman (beheading). In the military, the role of executioner was performed by a soldier, such as the provost.

Oct 6, 2019 · One of the earliest documented official executioner positions dates to 1202, when a prominent headsman, Nicolas Jouhanne – nicknamed “la Justice” – was appointed the vicomte, and official executioner of the Normandy town of Caux. From then on, this official position spread through many capitals and large towns of Western Europe.

Public Executioners were the people that inflicted capital punishment during medieval times. Executioners received other names related to the physical punishments they carried out, such as hangman (hanging) and headsman (beheading).

Feb 20, 2019 · In the year 1470, a poor thief stood at the foot of the gallows in the Swedish town Arboga and was waiting to be hanged. The public attending the spectacle had pity on the sinner and when he, to save his neck, offered to become executioner in the town, it was agreed.

Aug 24, 2019 · One afternoon in May 1573, a 19-year-old man named Frantz Schmidt stood in the backyard of his father's house in the German state of Bavaria, preparing to behead a stray dog with a sword. He'd...

Mar 28, 2025 · beheading, a mode of executing capital punishment by which the head is severed from the body. The ancient Greeks and Romans regarded it as a most honorable form of death. Before execution the criminal was tied to a stake and whipped with rods.

May 23, 2023 · Here we will delve into 10 of the most notorious executioners from history—from the infamous Pierrepoint family of England, who executed more than 600 people over three generations, to the brutal torture techniques used by the executioners of the Spanish Inquisition.

Aug 23, 2020 · Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin inventor of the guillotine. Head chopping executions carried out by the fatal decapitation device. A brief history of the inventor.

Dec 19, 2018 · In the armory of the White Tower at the Tower of London, you’ll find an ax leaning against a thick wooden block. This sinister pair is the original ax and block used during the execution of...

For hundreds of years, European town squares saw prisoners executed before throngs of people. Many of these victims were famous, their bloody endings part of the history of many nations. But what of the person on the other end of the axe?